The Miracle Girl : Re-written
by phoenixalia
Summary: When all hope was lost for a fading miracle, she met another miracle who was also faded. They discover each other and join forces to heal more miracles...strong but corrupted miracles. The female miracle's journey where she discovers new experiences, friends and even love begins. This is a re-written version of my GoMxOC fanfic 'The Miracle Girl'.


Hello everyone. My name is phoenixalia. Thanks for stopping by. Welcome to my GoMxOC story 'The Miracle Girl'. Bear with me for a bit and read this escessively long intro. I promise it won't take too long. We'll get to the story soon I swear!

This story is about a young girl named Kirimi and about how she overcomes struggles in general in her life through basketball and with Kuroko and the GoM when at the same time she helps Kuroko and the GoM as well to overcome their own struggles mainly related to basketball. She teaches the GoM to love basketball again and inadvertently stirs up feelings of love for her in Kuroko and the GoM's hearts while helping them.

Kirimi at the time when the main story starts will be a first year in middle school. Most people always have their OCs the same age as the GoM while I wanted to try something different for a change. Even though Kirimi is in middle school, she is quite mature for her age although she shows occasional bouts of childishness.

For the first chapter, it's mainly a prologue showing Kirimi's childhood and her first encounter with basketball. How it changed her, how she yearns to play it but it's not so easy. Her meeting with another OC of mine(a temporary OC who won't have much of a role in the story at all but is vital to Kirimi's development as a character...and the character is also somewhat related to Kuroko Tetsuya.) The first three chapters or so will be a bit long. And the first chapter will seem like a random story but it is essential so that I can flesh out Kirimi and show her back story so that she'll seem more relatable. Ok, enough with that, on with the story!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or any of it's characters.

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THIS IS FOR MY OLD READERS ONLY:

Hey guys! Long time no see! Been worried about having no updates from this story:

w w w . fanfiction s / 8552519 / 1/ The-Miracle-Girl (remove the spaces)

I'm sure you have. Well, let me tell you why there was such a gap for so long. So, after writing chapter 3, I looked at my story and felt dissatisfied with it. I found that there were a lot of things missing in it, that I was trying to rush and hurry things up without giving proper explanations, and a lot of things didn't make sense. Or at least, that was how I felt. I want to let you know, that all this time I've been trying to hone my writing skills and only now I'm sort of satisfied with my skills. My writing is still very poor and my vocabulary is still bad though I am trying to improve it.

I basically re-wrote the whole story with a lot of new content being added in. Some parts are still the same and my story **WILL STILL BE** MY OC KIRIMI x GoM so don't worry about that. I hope you guys don't mind this reaaaaaaaaaaally long prologue for Kirimi's story but one of the things which I felt really lacked in my previous chapter 1 was a decent back story for Kirimi. So I went all out, fleshed it out, added another temporary OC(who is actually not as OC as you might think...hint...it's related to Kuroko :P ) but things will make sense in the end even if things seem like a random story in the beginning. So I ask you, my beloved readers who've been waiting patiently all this time to take the time to read this re-written story I wrote just for all of you. I promise you, things will start making sense in the end and even more in the next chapter. I will be rewriting the next few chapters as well but I promise it's still Kirimi(my OC) no Harem.

I cannot express how sorry I am for not updating the story all this time. I'm still in love with KnB and I still love reading KnB fanfics especially OC fanfics and I wish to keep this story for all OCxGoM fans!

So, what are you waiting for? Go to my profile, find my re-written fanfic and start reading!

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_Do you believe in miracles? If you do, do you believe in two miracles clashing with each other? What if a few more clashed with a particular miracle? What if that particular miracle didn't even realize that it was a miracle? This is the story of a little miracle encountering a then fading miracle. She later collides with some more miracles… strong but corrupted miracles. Let us watch the events unfold and watch what happens with a number of miracles._

It was around 7pm in the evening. A large hall of great grandeur filled to the brim with guests, both male and female, were in high spirits. The meeting was over and now food and refreshments had been brought out and every soul in the hall was eating, drinking, talking to friends, etc. No one noticed a little girl, no more than three feet tall passing through all of them. She was desperate to get out from the hall.

Well, it was only natural. This was a meeting for adults and unfortunately there were no other children there. Everyone just kept asking how old she was and telling her how big she was getting. Then they ignored her. The little girl, who still looked like a bit like a toddler, (though she wasn't technically one anymore, she was six years old now!) slipped through the doors of the hall and found herself in the even bigger hotel lobby. The hotel staff didn't notice the little ball of purple leaving their hotel.

Once she was outside, she felt a bit better. It was so stuffy inside not to mention mummy had made her wear a really, really prickly dress. She felt the breeze making the strands of her hair wave about as she walked down the road. She didn't want to wait for mummy and daddy. She was sick of always going to their meetings and then being bored all the time. This time, she wouldn't wait for them. She would go home herself! That would teach them.

_Huff…huff…._

But there was a limit to what her tiny legs could do, especially as she was not used to walking a lot. Soon she was out of breath and needed to sit down. She found an abandoned park (at least, she thought it was a park) and she sat down near its fence.

What the girl didn't know was that she was not alone. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something hard and rubbery hitting the ground and she flinched. She got up and looked to see what had made that noise. What she saw was something she had never seen before.

A young boy, probably four to five years older than her, dribbled an orange ball, his fingers moving delicately but firmly. She maybe little, but she could see the concentration the boy put into what he was doing. He dribbled the ball one last time and then raised his arms, holding the ball, positioned it and in a flash, with pin point precision, he had aimed the ball at the basket which was above him. The ball fell into the basket in a smooth, slow but steady way, fell through it and landed on the ground again. The boy smiled a great big grin and went to get his ball again.

The tiny, purple headed little six year old girl stared in awe with her protuberant eyes as he used his nimble fingers to throw the orange ball accurately into the basket again. She had never seen something like this before. Why was that boy throwing an orange ball into a basket? More like, that basket had a hole in the bottom! Was it really a basket? And why was that boy so happy when the ball fell into the…basket…thingy? She had a ball at home, though it was light blue in color. It was the only toy the girl had too. She loved her ball and would always play with it by throwing it on the wall and then catch it back. She loved that game. But this was an orange ball and the boy had thrown the ball into a basket?! It seemed like a silly thing to do but the boy smiled as if he was the happiest person in the world. Not only that, it had made her happy too. She felt this floating feeling in her tummy when she saw him throw the ball like that.

She immediately wanted to try it too. She was just going to ask the boy if she could do it too when she heard a shrill voice call her name.

"That's her! Kirimi! _Kirimi!_" cried out a woman in a frantic voice as she approached the child.

The little girl turned around at the voice. It was her mother.

"Mama," said the purple head, whose name was Kirimi.

The woman gasped with relief when she looked at Kirimi and confirmed that this was indeed her child. She put her hands on her child's tiny shoulders as she started to breathe normally again. In a second, her expression of worry turned into anger.

"What in the world were you thinking running off like that? What if something had happened to you? What if some bad man had gotten his hands on you?" asked the woman angrily shaking the child's shoulders slightly.

"I….I was…."

She had always been told that she had to be perfect child in order to be worthy of being called the daughter of the Ayasaki's as she carried the Ayasaki name. Her surname was Ayasaki.

Kirimi was the daughter of the famous Ayasaki doctors. Mayu Ayasaki and Hiro Ayasaki. They were quite famous in the field of medicine. Both heart specialists, they had many patients, and quite a few were important people. Because of their position, they were often sent around the world for surgeries and operations and interviews and conferences, which left Kirimi alone at home most of the time with the maids. She never saw much of the outside world in the six years of her life. Kirimi had always been told that to be a good girl and make her parents proud, she had to study very well and be the best.

She could be considered an ojou-sama in some ways; a girl with very famous, rich parents, a mansion to live in, countless maids in the house, etcetera. But she was not just an ojou-sama. She was what you would call a sheltered ojou-sama.

_I was bored to death, feeling stuffy and wanted to escape from that horrible place full of noisy adults._

As usual, Kirimi just gulped instead of voicing out her thoughts. She almost never told her parents exactly what she was thinking because she never wanted to disobey them. As far as they were concerned, that was not being a daughter worthy of the Ayasaki name.

Kirimi continued to look at the ground without answering her mother. After a few minutes, she muttered, "Sorry, mama,"

Her mother, Mayu, clicked her tongue in displeasure.

"That was very unfitting for the daughter of the Ayasaki's, Kirimi-"

_And here we go…_

"- Surely you understand that? Do you realize what an embarrassment it was for your father and I when it was time to leave and we couldn't find you? How our friends laughed at us and how even some said what a naughty little girl we had. After all of that, you think just a "Sorry, mama," will suffice?" asked Mayu icily.

Kirimi opened her mouth to answer but her mother cut in.

"I'm too tired to properly lecture you about what you've done but make sure this doesn't happen again. You understand don't you?"

Kirimi nodded.

_Yes, mama. I understand. I was a bad girl. I disappointed you. But for you, showing me off in front of friends is more important than my feelings, isn't it? _

She turned her head to left and looked at the park again, which of course, turned out to actually be a basketball park, of course she didn't know the word 'basketball' yet. The boy wasn't there anymore.

_But mama, today I found something which seemed really fun and cool. I really want do try it out. Will you let me?_

The skies looked dark and gloomy. And lightning could be seen occasionally. It seemed as if a storm was brewing.

_Most probably mama would not_, thought Kirimi as she walked back with her to their car where her father was waiting.

But maybe she could try asking?

That was how much the boy with the ball had affected her. She really, really wanted to try it out. All her life, all she had was studying, studying, and attending her parents' functions and the like. Not to mention she was a small child. Once something captivated small children, they had to immediately have it.

She didn't know where her bravery came from but she asked with as much strength as she could muster.

"Mama," said Kirimi, as the car slowed down for the red signal. They had been in the car for about ten minutes.

"What is it?" asked Mayu.

"C-Can I…."

Kirimi clenched her skirt. This was so hard…

"Can I p-play…."

Her father, who was driving, turned his head to look at his daughter at the word 'play'.

"Can I play….with an orange ball and a basket?" managed Kirimi finally, hands shaking.

For thirty seconds, neither of her parents said a thing. Then,

"What?" asked Mayu with a strange expression.

"What did you just say, Kirimi?" asked Hiro, her father, a bit perplexed. Orange ball and a basket…

It took him less than five seconds to understand what she was saying. Basketball? Where did she get that from all of a sudden?

"Orange ball and basket…I want to play it," said Kirimi, her eyes flitting from her mother to her father.

"Why on earth do you want to do that all of a sudden?" asked Mayu, surprised.

"I-I saw it today, at that park, when you were having your party. I saw a boy playing with this orange ball and then he threw it inside a weird basket but it was so cool and that onii-san was so happy and it made me happy too. I was wondering…if I could play with that orange ball too," said Kirimi in one breath, desperately.

She had never wanted something so much in her life.

Mayu and Hiro looked at each other for a few seconds with grim expressions on their faces. Then Mayu nodded.

"No," said Hiro firmly.

Kirimi had expected that answer but it hurt her all the same.

"You cannot, Kirimi. And I shall explain why. Basketball or any other sport in general-"

_So it was called basket…ball. Basketball. _

"-are an utter waste of time. They will get you nowhere in life much less will they make you into a star class doctor, which is what you are aiming to be. They have no merit. The only thing basketball has is that it is good exercise but if it's exercise you need, you can be rest assured that we were thinking of sending you to for private ballet lessons to a friend of mine-"

_Ballet lessons? Dresses again? No, I don't want that at all! _

"-but basketball, is completely out of the question. Let me make that clear, Kirimi," finished her father.

"What is more," said Mayu. "Basketball is a dangerous sport where you can get serious injuries. Not to mention it would take a lot out of your study time. Where will your grades be then?"

It had started raining outside. Kirimi could see through the car. It looked like the sky was crying for her.

"Yes…mama, papa. I understand," said Kirimi clenching her fists so tightly they were turning red.

It wasn't as if she didn't expect this. She knew she would be rejected. But to bring up her studies again…

"Good. As expected of the daughter of the Ayasaki's. You understand us whenever we tell you something important," said Hiro, a little proud of her.

….and to bring up the Ayasaki daughter thing…sometimes she wished she was not an Ayasaki.

The rain was now a storm. Her heart felt like it was in a storm too.

Kirimi was silent for the rest of the trip.

* * *

For as long as she could remember if her parents told her she couldn't do something; she would obey them and not think of the matter afterwards. But this time was different. She wanted to play with the orange ball again, no matter what. She didn't know why, but she felt such a pull towards the ball.

But where would she ever get the chance to play with that ball? She didn't know.

So for the next few weeks, she went back to her boring life of study, study, study. She would think of basketball before she went to bed. And she would pray for a chance for her to play it. Her father tried sending her for ballet classes. But soon it became obvious that Kirimi didn't like ballet, so that was dropped.

But luck was with her two months later….her prayers had been answered. Well, sort of.

Kirimi was having her breakfast one day when she casually looked at the channel on television her mother was watching when she saw something which piqued her interest. It was the daily horoscope and it was talking about Scorpios. She didn't have anything else better to do so she listened.

Apparently, being a Scorpio was lucky by itself-

_So she should consider herself lucky? Well, that was surprising. _

-and that today of all days Scorpios would be extremely lucky-

Kirimi's eyes widened slightly.

-and that all their endeavors today would be successful.

Kirimi was not one to believe in horoscopes, but it made her a bit excited all the same that today would be a lucky day for her apparently. And maybe it was sort of true. Today was one of the rare occasions where she had actually got out of the house and was stuck with her mother who was grocery shopping(since her father wasn't home, Kirimi had to tag along, and the maids had a day off today). It was pretty uneventful. They went to the store, bought their necessary things and they stepped out of the store with their groceries and she and her mother were waiting for a taxi to take them home.

It was then, when Kirimi heard the sound of people laughing and running and shouting…and the familiar sound of a ball hitting the ground. Kirimi's eyes immediately flitted up and she tried to find the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from…the left. Were they playing basketball?

Kirimi listened carefully. Yes that was without a doubt, the same sound she had heard on that fateful day; the sound of a rubber ball hitting the ground hard.

Kirimi's eyes sparkled. She had to see it. This was probably one of the only chances she was going to get. When would she ever get this chance again? She had to come up with something, fast. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of Usagi Road. She had only been there once a long time back during night time. She didn't know people played basketball there. Now that she thought about it though, she might have passed basketball parks in the past but she just wouldn't have known what they were at that time. Well, now that she knew, she had to see one, this time in broad daylight.

"Mama, can we go to the convenience store on Usagi Road and get an ice cream for me?" asked Kirimi, wondering how she came up with such a lie on the spot.

Her mother gave her a puzzled look.

"If it's an ice cream, this store should have one too," she replied.

"No…I…I really like the ice cream from that store on Usagi Road. I like the Chocolate Banana ice cream so much," lying as if it was second nature.

That was the only flavor from the ice cream shop she knew about anyway. She had to think of a proper flavor or her mother would get suspicious right? Her heart was hammering. Would her mother believe it?

Her mother sighed and unexpectedly, gave in. Kirimi nearly passed out in relief. She didn't know how she would go to the basketball park from the convenience store but she had to try!

Soon, they reached Usagi Road.

Kirimi and her mother went inside the convenience store. This store, unlike the grocery store, was very crowded. A child like Kirimi could easily get lost. Mayu contemplated on telling her daughter that they would get her ice cream next time but then something caught her eye. Apparently, this store was having a sale on some really necessary items for the house. Hmm, maybe she would buy the ice cream after all. She was very busy and was scarcely at home and who knew when these items would be on sale again?

Kirimi meanwhile, was trying to think of how daring her plan was and was planning on escaping from her mother's sight any minute. She just had to wait for the perfect moment. She stayed with her mother while she did her shopping on the items for the house, then, when they had to go to the cashier, Kirimi saw her chance. There was a long queue and people were fighting their way through. Mayu pushed her way into the crowd and that was when Kirimi acted. She slowly slithered away from her mother and the crowd.

_And if I am lucky enough_, she thought, _Mama would have to wait in line for a long time and not notice that I am missing._

This was the second time in her life that she was disobeying her parents like this. The first time on that day was definitely surprising. She had not expected to do that at all. But she was glad she did. Or she wouldn't have discovered basket ball.

Quietly, without the sales people noticing, she stepped out of the store. Once she was out, she didn't waste time. She had to get to the park fast before her mother finished. She hurried past people, made sure to look both ways before the crossing the road, looking around and she saw it…her destination. In less than thirty seconds, she was standing in front of the basketball park.

Only this time, there were quite a few people there, quite a few kids to be exact. They all seemed to be older than her though, by three or four years. And there were only one or two girls around. Kirimi stood near the entrance and watched.

The place had an air of excitement as a red haired boy passed the ball to another brown haired boy, who, was on the red head's team obviously. He dribbled the ball, carefully guarding it, his eyes flashing from side to side as a boy and a girl from the opposing team tried to steal the ball from him. All of a sudden, her jumped and aimed the ball at the basket. He didn't aim properly so it bounced off the basket and fell on the ground.

The kids laughed at the brown haired boy, some commenting on how lame that shot was while others said that it was unlucky that he missed.

Kirimi watched all of this in amazement. So more than one person could play basketball? And you could jump and throw the ball too? And all these people (kids) seemed to be having so much fun. Her heart ached. She wanted to join in with them too. But she was too scared. What if they made fun of her?

But she wanted to touch that ball. Right now, just holding it would be enough for her.

Dusty wind was flying past their faces, they sometimes fell down, sometimes the ball didn't fall into the basket, but, the kids' faces were full of joy, the same expression the boy she had seen that day had. Kirimi opened her mouth to say something to those kids but she was interrupted when suddenly, the ball came flying in her direction.

Kirimi let out an 'Ah!' as a surprise as it was coming. What she do? Catch it? Not do anything? Run away? Half the kids were telling Kirimi to catch the ball while the others were telling her to run.

She gulped, held her breath and somehow, cupped her fingers slightly and caught the ball. The force of the ball pushed her back just a little but she had caught it. She had caught the orange ball!

The only toy Kirimi had at home, a blue ball, was her treasured possession. She didn't have anyone to play with, so she used to play with the wall. She would throw the ball on the wall, and it would come back at her. This was probably why she didn't have much trouble catching the orange ball, though she didn't realize this at that time.

She was so awestruck that she was holding the orange ball in her hand that for a few seconds she didn't hear the other kids calling out to her to return the ball.

Kirimi at once, held the ball near her chest, moved her hands and arms in a slightly downward fashion, and threw the ball smoothly but steadily and firmly. The boy who caught her pass was gaping at how slickly she had thrown the ball that he almost forgot to catch it.

"N-Nice pass!" he said impressed.

"Hey, would you like to play with us?" asked an auburn haired girl.

Kirimi was about to say yes when she saw the number eleven on the boy's shirt.

Eleven...eleven…time….eleven o'clock! Her heart skipped a beat. Her mother! She had to get back to the convenience store immediately!

Without answering the boy, she rushed back to the convenience store as fast as her legs could take her. She saw the outside of the store. Her mother wasn't there. So probably she was still inside, hopefully. She hurried into the store but tried to be quiet and not make too much of a commotion. She looked around for her mother and…there! She was still here! It seemed like she had just realized that Kirimi was missing.

Kirimi took a deep breath and quietly went to her mother.

"Mama," she said, trying not to sound out of breath.

Mayu's eyes snapped at Kirimi's. She thought the child was missing again.

She looked at her suspiciously.

"Kirimi, you…you weren't here a second ago, how did you suddenly appear?!" she asked a bit sternly.

"I was all here all this time," lied Kirimi.

"Is….is that so…"said her mother, her eyes narrowed slightly. Maybe the child was right. The store was still crowded so she may not have been able to see her. "Alright then, let's go home. Father finished his work early and is here to pick us up,"

Mayu was still ever so slightly suspicious as she and Kirimi went back home with their groceries in the car.

Kirimi on the other hand, was overjoyed, though she didn't show it out as she was still in the family car. She couldn't show it out. But her insides were bubbling with happiness. She had discovered many things today. One, horoscopes could be trusted (at least, sometimes). Two, basketball was even more fun than she thought. Three, basketball could be played with many people. Four, she had been very daring today though it was for a worthy cause.

* * *

The next three years for Kirimi passed without anything exciting. She had thought about the basketball park and the kids there, but her mother, though she hadn't said anything at that time, had become very careful with Kirimi. She was not to leave her sight not even for one second whenever they went out. So it was back to boring times. No basketball.

But when she was nine years old, there were some changes in her lifestyle. All these years, Kirimi had been homeschooled by a very good private tutor. But now, in the summer of Kirimi's ninth year of life, the tutor suddenly announced that he was moving to another country for awhile. Her parents were quite distraught. They tried to find another tutor for her but all of them were deemed unsuitable and not good enough. So, with much unwillingness, it was decided that Kirimi would go to an elementary school nearby where she would join the fourth grade class there. It was a good school but not good enough for Kirimi's parents. But the school they wanted her to join did not take students in the middle of the year so Kirimi had to join that school.

Kirimi did not know what to think. She had been curious of what it was like to go to a school like normal kids but at the same time, joining in the middle of the year, not to mention, now that she was in fourth grade, her classmates-to-be would have already formed groups within themselves. Kirimi didn't want to be a loner. But she had no choice. It had occurred to her that maybe now that she had a bit of freedom, she could be able to play basketball in the park she had seen that day. But that hope was short-lived as her parents told her that she would be dropped at school and picked up after school by a driver they had hired for this purpose.

So the day came when Kirimi had to go to school. She was nervous but excited.

The teacher asked her to enter the classroom. She did so. She could hear whispers. She bit her lip trying to calm herself. She faced the classroom. She saw many pairs of eyes staring at her. She bit her lip even harder. Most of them were inquisitive stares. Kirimi tried to find a face which didn't seem so inquisitive. Suddenly she felt someone wiggling their eyes at her. She looked and saw sitting at the back near the window was a boy with messy hair.

Kirimi felt frightened. Why was he doing that?

Then, he did something which surprised Kirimi. With his two fingers, he made a smiling gesture at Kirimi, as if he was telling her to smile. Kirimi found it so funny that she did smile very slightly.

Her first day passed without much commotion. She introduced herself to her new classmates and her teachers. Her classmates seemed nice enough, rather they were friendly. She just got a few people here and there teasing her for her hair color which was light purple in color. She couldn't talk to them much as the teacher then asked them to settle down and pay attention to class.

During lunch break, Kirimi had sort of got accustomed to having a lot of people in the same room as her. It was quite a contrast to always being alone at home.

Then, she saw the same boy who had made her smile approach her.

"So, Ayasaki-san," said messy haired boy. "Which school were you in till now? Why did you transfer here all of a sudden?"

"Ah…I was homeschooled till now actually," said Kirimi, hoping they wouldn't think she was weird for that.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEH?" said her classmates in unison, shocked.

"Wow, that's amazing! So you've never been in a classroom before?!" asked a girl with short hair, trying to bite down a laugh.

"Uwahh, you must have been really nervous today then, coming to a school for the first time! How unfortunate!" said another girl.

Kirimi fidgeted nervously, not knowing what to say. Well, actually she wanted to say how she had always been lonely and that she didn't know a lot of things about school but her mouth didn't open.

The messy haired boy looked at her and gave her a thumbs up.

"You don't need to be afraid for school, Ayasaki-san! It's a really fun place!" said the messy haired boy grinning.

"Well, except for tests and exams!"

Everyone burst out laughing at that. Kirimi also managed a small smile, looking at the boy again.

Two periods after lunch break, it was time for PE class. Her nervousness surfaced again when she reached the school gym. She was already embarrassed since she didn't have PE clothes like others since she had just transferred in.

"That's no problem, Ayasaki," said her gym teacher. "You can borrow one of the spare PE clothes sets,"

Kirimi found it a bit difficult to keep up with the others during the warm up exercises since she was not used to this. But she somehow pulled through. She had to. This was her new life after all. They continued to do exercises till the teacher blew her whistle.

"Alright, gather around everyone!" said the teacher. "Right, today we're going to be playing soccer. Girls and boys together! I'm going to sort you all into your into your teams now!"

The boys and girls cheered.

Kirimi gulped. Soccer? From what she knew that had something to do with kicking a black and white ball. She didn't know much more than that. And she didn't know how to play it either.

Soon, the kids had been divided into two teams and they were all whispering excitedly.

Kirimi slowly approached some of her teammates from her class.

"What is it, Ayasaki-san?"

"U-Um, I….I don't know to play soccer," said Kirimi in almost a whisper.

Kirimi could hear some snickers here and there but she tried to be strong. But she couldn't. She wasn't used to having people around her, much less people laughing at her.

No one said anything for a few seconds. They were all staring at her. Then, the same messy haired boy spoke up.

"That's ok, Ayasaki-san! We'll back you up! Right guys?" he said looking at his classmates.

Kirimi stared at him, unable to tell him how grateful she was. This was not the first, not the second but the third time he had spoken up for her. None of the others had thought of vouching for her. She didn't even know his name, she just saw him as a messy haired boy. Well, a very nice messy haired boy.

Some of her classmates were still smirking but others nodded in agreement.

"Just do what you can, Ayasaki-san. We'll handle the rest, don't worry," said the boy cheerfully from her class.

So, Kirimi again, somehow managed and pulled through the soccer game as well. Once it was all over, and she had finished changing back into her usual clothes, Kirimi wanted to find the messy haired boy and thank him.

She approached him while he was returning to the classroom. But…she didn't know his name so how would she even call him?

"Er…um," said Kirimi stupidly. "Ah, hello!"

The messy haired boy turned around to see who was talking.

"Ayasaki-san?" he said, a bit surprised. "What are you doing here? Did something happen?"

Kirimi shook her head nervously.

"No, no, that is, well, I wanted thank you for earlier," said Kirimi, still trying to remember his name.

He cocked his head to the side confusedly.

"Thank me? For what?" he asked.

Kirimi blinked at him. Had he really forgotten? Or was he pretending? Kirimi didn't understand.

"For helping me during gym class. When it was time for playing soccer, and I spoke out, no one else said anything. Some even laughed at me. But you came forward and reassured me. For that, thank you very much," said Kirimi bowing.

The boy just stared at her with his mouth slightly open for a few seconds, and then laughed out loud.

W-Why was he laughing all of a sudden? Wasn't he supposed to be a nice person?

"W-What's so funny?" asked Kirimi a little miffed.

The boy tried to control his laughter as he tried to answer Kirimi.

"B-But, you're thanking me for such a trivial thing!" he said, still letting out a laugh now and then.

Trivial? Trivial? Didn't he know how he had helped her?

"It's not a trivial thing!" said Kirimi immediately. "And not only at that time! When I first entered class you told me to smile, and when everyone was asking questions during lunch break, you helped back then too! I was really scared and nervous you know! I've never done this before, never had so many people around me before and I've never played soccer or any other sport before! You seriously saved me. I don't see anything to laugh about at all!"

Kirimi said this all in one breath and she gasped for breath when she finished.

The messy haired boy's eyes widened slightly.

"What?" asked Kirimi. "Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?"

"No…it's just that, this is the first time I've heard you actually voice out your feelings today," he said.

"Huh?" asked Kirimi puzzled.

"Ever since you stepped into class, you were just overly polite, stuttering a bit, not voicing out your real thoughts and being scared of everything," said the messy haired boy who seemed genuinely surprised.

Kirimi just stared at him with her mouth open slightly.

How had he noticed that? None of the other kids had noticed nor had they said anything about it. True, Kirimi didn't feel bullied but she just agreed with everything the other kids said, not wanting to make them angry or make them hate her. She was so afraid that she would be an outcast.

"So it's true isn't it? What I said is true, right?" said the boy, noting that Kirimi was in deep thought.

"I-I suppose you're right," said Kirimi, a bit taken a back, not knowing what else to say.

They stared at each other. There was silence for a while.

"W-Well, that's all I wanted to say so, see you….uh…" stopped Kirimi all of a sudden.

The messy haired boy looked at Kirimi, waiting.

"Um…what's your name?" asked Kirimi, very awkwardly.

…

"Ah…A…Aha….Ahahahahahaha!" laughed the boy again, this time louder than before.

This time, Kirimi did not mind him laughing. After all, she would too if she were in his position.

"I-I know it's weird…." said Kirimi, embarrassed.

"Of course it's weird! You said all of that to me but didn't even know my name?"

The boy laughed and laughed and laughed.

Kirimi slowly started to turn her red, embarrassed face into a smile and soon she was laughing with him too.

Once they'd stopped laughing, the boy looked at Kirimi.

"Ogiwara Shizuo, that's my name," said the boy with a stupid grin.

"O-Ogiwara-kun," said Kirimi nervously.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"There you go being nervous again! Loosen up a bit, Ayasaki-san!"

He clapped her on the back.

"Come on, let's go back to class. We're going to be late,"

* * *

Kirimi tried to settle in. She did not have her own circle of friends. She only had Shizuo. But she was accepted and was friendly with all of her classmates. Fourth grade was proceeding smoothly. The subjects were extremely easy as Kirimi had studied things which even middle-schoolers had learned while she had been at home. Her parents knew this and still gave her books to read and study which were many years beyond her but even with extra study, Kirimi managed quite well.

Shizuo and Kirimi quickly became friends. He helped her in everything related to school as Kirimi didn't even know the most basic things while she helped him tremendously with his studies. Shizuo didn't even understand basic math. Soon, they started calling each other by their first names.

It was now two weeks later.

"Shizuo! You made a mistake on the same problem again. Were you even listening to the teacher?" asked Kirimi sternly. But she wasn't really mad though.

"E-Eheheheh…" said Shizuo sheepishly.

"Jeez, what are you going to do? You can't afford to fail this test tomorrow, you know!"

Shizuo was fidgeting.

"I-I'll take a day off and say I'm sick!" said Shizuo eyes flitting nervously.

Kirimi shook her head.

"The teacher won't fall for that trick again, Shizuo," said Kirimi grimacing.

"Eh? Again? How did you know I had already done that for the last test?" asked Shizuo in shock.

"Hiradaira-san told me the other day," said Kirimi, referring to another classmate.

"Ah, darn it! What am I going to do!" said Shizuo dramatically rubbing his hair.

Kirimi sighed.

"I guess I'll have to coach you as hard as I can for the rest of the day," she said.

Shizuo shook his head.

"That won't be enough! Hey, I know! Why don't you come to my house today, Kirimi?" he asked all of a sudden with bright eyes.

"E-Eh," said Kirimi, her throat suddenly feeling parched.

His house…

At one end, Kirimi was feeling like she was on top of the world. She had never ever been invited to someone's house before. But at the same time…would her parents approve?

Shizuo could immediately tell what she was thinking.

"You're thinking about your parents again, aren't you?" he said a bit sympathetically.

She nodded.

She had told Shizuo all about her parents. All meaning how she was the Ayasaki's daughter (Shizuo had gone 'EHHHHHHHHHHHH!' and Kirimi had to shush him because she didn't want other students to know) and how her parents were to her.

She wanted to go to his house not only because she wanted to, but also not to disappoint him since he was her first friend. But her parents…especially her mother, would she approve? Since she had been homeschooled for many years, she didn't get to meet other children so there was no problem of inviting friends or going to a friend's house. Kirimi was sure her parents wouldn't mind if she had a close friend but would they let her go to that friend's house? Well, it wouldn't stop her from asking her mother though. This was for Shizuo's sake.

"I'll call okaa-san and tell her," said Kirimi.

"Eh?" asked Shizuo surprised. "No, Kirimi, you don't have to push yourself or get yourself in trouble or anything-"

"I'll do it," said Kirimi determinedly.

Since she had started school and more than that, since had started talking to the outgoing and frank Ogiwara Shizuo, Kirimi had gotten over her shy nature little by little and could talk to people without stuttering. She had also learned how to stand taller in front of her parents, even if it was only a little bit. This was the least she could do for him.

She called her mother through the school phone.

"Hello?" said Mayu.

The sound of people chattering could be heard in the background. Most probably her mother was in a meeting again.

"Okaa-san, it's me, Kirimi," answered Kirimi.

"Kirimi? What is it? I'm extremely busy right now so if you have anything to say please say it quickly," said Mayu.

Kirimi took a deep breath.

"Okaa-san, I want to go to a friend's house today," said Kirimi, trying her hardest to sound strong.

Mayu didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"A friend's house?" she said. "No, Kirimi, I don't think you can do that. Today you have to study your biology and-"

"Please, okaa-san, please let me go" said Kirimi, actually opposing what her mother had said. Before, she never used to do this. "Besides, I'm going to study there,"

Mayu's nose twitched.

"Study? If you want to study, why don't you come home and study? Why go to a friend's house?"

Kirimi's upper lip was sweating.

"I'm going there to study with my friend. We have a test tomorrow. Really, okaa-san, we're studying," said Kirimi, a hint of desperateness in her voice.

"Are you telling me that you have a test tomorrow and you're only studying for it now?" asked Mayu, suddenly angry.

"No! No, okaa-san. I just think that studying with my friend together, we can correct each other's mistakes and quiz ourselves. Since I don't have a tutor anymore, I only study by myself at home. So I wanted to study with my friend," said Kirimi, amazed at her own brilliance.

For some time, her parents had been lamenting on how without a tutor their daughter could not get the most out of her books so this was an excellent excuse.

"Oh?" asked Mayu, her mind changing slowly. "Is this friend of yours smart then?"

"He is extremely clever, okaa-san. He's only second to me in class," said Kirimi, lying easily.

"Hmm. Well, alright then, go to this friend's house. But make sure to come home before eight' o clock and make sure your friend's parents drop you home. I have no time to pick you," said Mayu.

"Thank you very much, okaa-san, I'll do that. I'll make sure of that," said Kirimi gratefully.

Kirimi put the phone back down.

She turned around and saw Shizuo staring at her.

"What?" she asked a bit defiantly.

"You told your mom one great sopping lie, that's what!" said Shizuo half shocked, half impressed. "Kirimi, you've really grown, I'm so proud of you!"

Kirimi pouted.

"Don't treat me like a kid!"

So Kirimi went to Shizuo's house that evening after school. It was a small house by Kirimi's standards since she lived in a house nearly the size of a mansion but Kirimi already liked this house better. Shizuo's family was middle-middle class. It was a light blue house with a red roof and a small red gate.

Shizuo's mother opened the door and was pleased to see Kirimi with Shizuo. Kirimi was also introduced to Shizuo's older sister and his father. They chatted for a while about school and the like. Shizuo's mother asked if Kirimi could stay for dinner but Kirimi had to politely refuse since she had to go home before eight.

After a few minutes, Kirimi went up to Shizuo's room. This was a totally new experience for her. Even though it was Shizuo, she felt a tiny bit nervous but also very happy that she could visit a friend's house.

His room was like any nine year old boy's room; messy, just like his hair, clothes here and there, and a few posters of celebrities and the like. Kirimi's room in contrast was prim and proper. Books piled neatly, maids taking care of putting away clothes, no posters, and no colorful stickers….nothing. Kirimi preferred this room to hers immediately.

"Ehehehehe~ I know it's not much," said Shizuo bashfully.

"It's perfect," said Kirimi in admiration.

"Eh?" asked Shizuo shocked. Most girls would be creeped out by a messy room like this. At least, the girls in his class were like that.

Kirimi smiled a bit sadly. She was happy but sort of jealous. Shizuo had a great family, a great room, and could do anything he wanted to. He wasn't forced to become a doctor…

"Ok, Shizuo, let's study," said Kirimi, drowning those thought away.

"A-Ah, ok,"

It was currently 4.30 pm. There was ample time. They began to study. There wasn't enough time to go through everything but Kirimi taught Shizuo everything she deemed important for tomorrow's test. She taught him important formulae, and practiced tough problems. Shizuo found it much easier because of Kirimi.

About an hour and a half later, at 6 pm, they took a break. Kirimi stretched her hands out, relieving her stiff muscles. They had covered quite a lot for tomorrow's test. She was confident Shizuo would pass.

"Shizuo, could you tell me where the kitchen is? I want some water," asked Kirimi.

He looked up from his detailed notes Kirimi had given him.

"Ah, just go down the stairs, turn left, and you should see a pink room, that's the kitchen," replied Shizuo.

"Thanks," said Kirimi who proceeded to go downstairs.

Kirimi went to kitchen, got herself a glass, and filled it up with water, when something caught her eye. She looked through the kitchen window and her eyes found a basket attached to a thick pole. Not just any basket, a basket for throwing an orange basketball into.

Kirimi nearly dropped her glass. Her eyes were wide as saucer plates.

She immediately put the glass of water down and rushed up the stairs to Shizuo's room.

"Shizuo!" she cried, opening the door to Shizuo's room, panting since she had run upstairs.

Ever since she had started school, she had been nervous; she had discovered Shizuo and had out basketball on the back of her mind. She had not forgotten it, it was just something she didn't think of at that time.

"Kirimi!?" asked Shizuo, alarmed. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"B-Basket…"

"Huh?"

"Why do you have a basketball hoop in your house?" asked Kirimi, still panting.

"Huh? _That's_ the reason you ran up here like a mad woman? I thought something happened to you!" said Shizuo incredulously.

Kirimi paid no attention to his words.

"Answer me, why do you have one?"

Kirimi didn't know exactly why she was getting worked up like this. She was excited but also for some reason, scared.

Shizuo looked at her confusedly.

"Well, its obvious isn't it? Because I play basketball," he answered.

"Y-You play basketball?" asked Kirimi, unable to believe it.

Maybe she was scared because she had been caught unawares. Till before she started school, she had been searching for a way to play basketball. Once she started school though, she had not thought about it much and school work and events gave her less time to think about it. So, now, to encounter basketball when she was least expecting it…it made her scared. It was kind of stupid really.

"Yeah, I do, been playing since I was about five years old, why?" asked Shizuo still not understanding what the big fuss was about.

Kirimi looked at him right in the eye.

"Because…I like basketball too," said Kirimi.

"EHHHHHH?"

Shizuo couldn't believe this. He had been friends with Kirimi for two weeks now and he didn't know this piece of information! But wait a minute!

"No way! On the fourth day after you transferred here, I asked you whether you played any sport and you told me you didn't!" said Shizuo still shocked.

"That's right. I don't _play_ any sport. I don't know anything about sports. But I _like_ basketball. I don't _play _it. There's a difference. I didn't know you played. I thought you just asked me that question casually," said Kirimi.

Shizuo scratched the back of his head.

"You like it but you don't play it? Why don't you play it if you like it?" he asked.

Kirimi opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She just looked down at the floor and shrunk slightly.

Shizuo saw this and realized what a stupid thing he had just said.

"W-W-Wait! S-Sorry! I shouldn't have said that, forget it, its-"

"No," said Kirimi. "Ah, I mean, I should tell you about it then,"

Shizuo was her friend. He was her best friend, her only friend. She had told him things about her parents, about how she was when she was small, how frightened she was when she was young. How she never left the house, how she had to spend her whole life studying to become a doctor. But she hadn't told him about how she discovered basketball, or her interest in it. She had thought it was not something worth mentioning.

"T-Tell me about what?"

Shizuo saw Kirimi's eyes light up.

"Tell you about why I like basketball," said Kirimi.

She started telling him the story of how one day when she was with her mother attending one of her meetings and how she saw the cool onii-san playing basketball in a basketball park and how she was so enamored by it but as he mentioned, she couldn't because of her parents. And then she told him of how she had visited the basketball park while giving her mother the slip and had actually caught the ball in her hands.

"It was an amazing thing," said Kirimi, with stars in her eyes. "I'd wanted to touch that ball for so long and I finally did,"

Shizuo stared at Kirimi as she finished her story. He felt really bad for her. He knew her parents were mean but to stop her from doing something she wanted to do so much…that was just too sad. He had to do something for her.

"Alright then, come on Kirimi," said Shizuo, putting his notes down and getting up.

Kirimi looked at him.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Let's go play basketball!" said Shizuo giving her his signature thumbs up and grin.

"HUH? What are you talking about? I came here to help you study, not to play games! I told my mom I would only do school work!" said Kirimi immediately.

She really, really wanted to play but that was disobeying her mother and dishonoring their promise. But she _so_ wanted to play basketball.

Shizuo closed his eyes as if he was in deep thought. He paced around the room, trying to think of something.

"What is he doing?" thought Kirimi.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes when he got a brilliant idea.

"Kirimi," said Shizuo with an unusual serious face.

"W-What?" asked Kirimi looking at Shizuo who looked weird.

"Suppose we're not playing basketball, what if we're just practicing for PE," said Shizuo sneakily grinning at her.

Kirimi nearly smiled. Hmmm…

"PE is also study, Kirimi. If you don't get a good score in PE, your grade will go down," said Shizuo, now smirking at her.

Kirimi was also smiling in a coy way. What Shizuo said was true, PE was also part of study and her PE grade wasn't good. If she at least played basketball during PE, her grade would go up a little….so it was ok to play basketball….right?

"So, let us go Kirimi, let us go and…study!" said Shizuo nodding at her.

Kirimi thought for a few seconds then she decided. It was time she had some fun, maybe. It was study….study.

"Ok, Shizuo. Let us make sure to study properly," said Kirimi smiling, though she did feel guilty but she tried to push that feeling away.

They both ran to the backyard. Once they were there, Kirimi waited while Shizuo fetched his basketball.

"Ok," said Shizuo, once he was back with the basketball. "Let's get down to business!"

He started dribbling the ball, looking at Kirimi. Kirimi's eyes followed the ball going up and down.

"Shizuo?"

"Hmm?"

"Um…what should I do?"

Shizuo stopped dribbling. Huh?

"You mean…you don't even know the rules of basketball?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

Kirimi noted that.

"It's not funny," she said, pouting, a bit annoyed.

"Alright then, I guess I'll have to teach you! I'll be your sensei, Kirimi! Hehe! I never thought I'd teach _you, _Miss Brilliant!" said Shizuo teasingly.

"Neither did I," said Kirimi hands on her hips, stretching. "But, for the sake of basketball, I'm willing to look past it, Mr. I-can't-do-even-simple-math!"

Shizuo grimaced.

"Ok, so first you…"

Shizuo started teaching Kirimi how to play basketball. Since she didn't know anything, she had to be taught even the baby steps even a normal four year old would know. Of course, there wasn't much you could learn in just one day or rather; half an hour for that matter but Kirimi felt that she had accomplished something amazing in her life today. She did feel a little guilty for half-disobeying her mother but that was shoved to the side because Kirimi had never had so much fun before.

Shizuo showed her how to pass, how to block and get past people with the ball. Of course, Kirimi didn't understand all of it, but she was having fun. She also didn't know how to dribble the ball well. But touching the ball brought so much happiness to her that she just wanted to keep playing.

She did not have the stamina Shizuo had so she had to take a break after half an hour.

Shizuo hadn't really expected that Kirimi would love basketball so much. From what he understood, she just saw someone throwing the ball into a hoop and she was star struck. He had thought of the idea to play because he wanted her to experience what it was like. He hadn't expected her to be so interested in it.

He was quite surprised when Kirimi said she wanted to play again after ten minutes.

"Y-You want to keep playing?" asked Shizuo, not able to believe what she had just said.

"Yeah, I do, why shouldn't I?" asked Kirimi defiantly.

"N-No. I didn't mean anything like that. It's just; you're saying this is your first time playing basketball right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, most people who watch basketball on TV or something think it's cool but when they see what it's really like and how much energy you have to put into it, they give up," said Shizuo.

Really? People gave up on basketball just like that?

"Well, I'm not one of those people," said Kirimi. "Let's go, Shizuo, I want to have five more rounds before I go home!"

"O-Oh, ok, right!"

* * *

From that time onwards, Kirimi went to Shizuo's house every two days or so. She told her mother she was studying with her friend and since Kirimi's grades were still top notch, her parents didn't suspect anything. Not to mention, Shizuo's house was far away from Kirimi's house so there was no chance of them finding out.

A year passed since Kirimi started school. Shizuo and she were now in fifth grade. The usual routine was still going on. Shizuo and Kirimi were still best friends, she helped him immensely with his studies and he played basketball with her. By now, Kirimi had learned all the rules of basketball and could go head to head with Shizuo.

In the one year in which she had been playing, she had discovered that she had special ways of basketball only she could do. One thing which Shizuo had commented on three months after they had started playing was Kirimi's passes. Even though Shizuo was the only person playing with her, sometimes he would unexpectedly see the ball in front of his hands, waiting to be caught. Of course, Kirimi had passed it to him, but he didn't know whether it was the way she did it or if it was natural talent but it felt as if the ball was floating in mid-air for a few moments and a ghost pushed it towards him.

Also, now, occurring more and more often was when Kirimi dribbled the ball trying to get past Shizuo and score, she would somehow disappear from front of his eyes and if he blinked, the next thing he knew it, Kirimi had scored. Kirimi still didn't properly shoot in to the basketball hoop though. Scoring was her weakness. But passing was her strength.

"Hey, Shizuo," said Kirimi, one day. "Why did you start playing basketball?"

Kirimi was tired; her legs and arms were aching. But she loved it. She loved this feeling so much. More….she wanted more of this. She wanted to play more. Basketball was much more interesting than she had anticipated.

Shizuo looked up at the sky.

"Hmm, let's see, I think it's because Shige-nii played it all the time so soon I started playing it too!"said Shizuo smiling.

"Shige-nii? Who's that?" asked Kirimi.

"My brother, Shigehiro," said Shizuo.

"Huh? But I only saw you mom and your older sister and father. I've never seen him!" said Kirimi.

Shizuo handed Kirimi a towel to wipe off the sweat from her head.

"Well, of course you didn't see him. He's studies in Meiko Junior High," said Shizuo, throwing the basketball up and down. "He's a second year,"

Meiko Junior High? So he was a middle school student then.

"He's staying at the hostel there," continued Shizuo. "He never comes home. He says he'll only come home after winning the Nationals!"

"The Nationals?"

"It's a basketball tournament for middle school basketball teams. He made some promise with some friend of his who goes to some other middle school. They both promised that they would meet each other at the Nationals and play against each other. Until, he wins, he said he's not coming back home,"

Kirimi stared.

"Wow," she said. "That's kind of amazing but also kind of sad. I mean, sad for you that is. Don't you miss him?"

Shizuo's usual grin faded a little.

"Well…yeah, I do, but…he's doing this because he wants to be the best," said Shizuo, now dribbling the ball again. "He's a great brother. He's always cheerful and determined. He can be an air head and an idiot sometimes, but he's a really good guy. He's a great basketball player too. I think he's already in the first string in his team. He could teach you more about basketball than I ever could, Kirimi,"

Kirimi was taking everything in. Shizuo had never talked so much about his past before or mentioned his brother. Sometimes she had felt it would have been great if she had an older sibling. Cheerful, determined, kind of an airhead…he sounded like a bit of an exaggerated version of Shizuo. Well, on the air head part at least. Shizuo could be dumb sometimes but he wasn't an airhead.

"Are you…planning on joining a basketball club in middle school too?" asked Kirimi.

"Hmmm….maybe. I haven't really thought about it. I'm not as good as Shige-nii in basketball, but it would be great to join a team, have fun laughing together, playing together, things like that, don't you think so?" asked Shizuo wistfully.

Kirimi nodded.

"Yes, it would be nice. Maybe I will too," said Kirimi looking at the stars in the sky. "I always want to play together with you, Shizuo,"

Shizuo ruffled Kirimi's hair affectionately.

"But you'll have to join the girls' basketball team! You can't join the boys! They won't let you. You could apply as a manager if you want though,"

"No!" said Kirimi protesting. "I'll be a player beside you! I-I'll cut my hair like a boy's and I'll dress up like a boy too! I'll come to school as a boy and I'll act just like one that they'll let me play with you!

Shizuo snickered.

"Yeah, that's true. I mean, you don't have anything on your chest so you'll have no problems there," he said teasing her.

"Oh, you! Shut up! There you go again teasing me about my chest! I'm only in fifth grade. I have plenty of time to grow," said Kirimi, annoyed.

A few months after they entered fifth grade, some of the girls had a growth spurt and started growing boobs. Shizuo sometimes teased Kirimi since she hadn't gotten a growth spurt at all.

Shizuo's face now grew serious.

"In a few weeks, Shige-nii will be playing in the Nationals. Last year he wasn't in the Regulars and this is his first time playing in the Nationals so I hope it'll go well," said Shizuo.

"I'm sure he will," said Kirimi confidently. "I'll pray for him to do well,"

Shizuo smiled at her.

"By the way, Kirimi, since we'll be in sixth grade soon, I was wondering, which middle school are you going to?" he said grinning.

"Hmm. I think my parents want me to go to Sakura Middle School. It's close by and it's a really good school. A lot of doctors and lawyers came from that school," said Kirimi, a bit bitterly.

"Uwahh~ Then it'll be a really tough school to get into for me huh?" said Shizuo a bit disheartened.

"Huh? You want to go to the same middle school I'm going to?" asked Kirimi surprised.

"Well, of course, duh! We're best friends aren't we? Best friends shouldn't be separated from each other!" said Shizuo matter-of-factly.

"Sh-Shizuo!" said Kirimi, extremely touched by what he had said. "Don't you have any other school you want to go to yourself?"

"Ehehehe~ I haven't thought about it at all actually. Well, I wanted to go to Meiko but my parents don't want me to leave like Shige-nii so I haven't really thought about it and-"

"That's no good, Shizuo!" said Kirimi sternly. "You have think about you future!"

"Well, I need you in my future so wherever you go is fine by me!" said Shizuo grinning.

Kirimi's face flushed in happiness.

"After all, who else will tutor me?" he said, sticking his tongue out.

"…wait, WHAT? Is that all I mean to you?

Shizuo laughed.

"Do they have a good basketball team?" he asked after patting her head and saying sorry for that mean joke.

This was what Kirimi had looked into herself. When her parents told her she was going to Sakura Middle School, the first thing she did was to do research on the school. She was afraid if they didn't give good emphasis on sports but…

"Well, in Sakura Middle, academics come first in everything, but sports are given importance too. They have various sports clubs including a basketball club, though it's not really well known," said Kirimi, recalling what she had read about the school.

"Then it's our job to go there and make it well known!" said Shizuo determinedly. He raised his hand for a high-five.

Kirimi got up, walked to him and high-fived him.

"YEAH!"

But fate had other plans. Fate had other cruel plans for Kirimi and Shizuo.

* * *

It happened a month before it was time for Kirimi and Shizuo to graduate from middle school. In the last year, Kirimi and Shizuo had gotten even better at basketball and they continued to play every two days or so. Final exams were over and in a month, they would no longer be elementary school students. It started on one day when Kirimi went to Shizuo's house one Saturday.

As she opened the gate to the house, she felt a pricking pain in the wrist of her right hand.

"Tch," said Kirimi clicking her tongue. "It's happening again,"

In the last three weeks or so, Kirimi had noticed that once in a while she would get a sharp pricking pain in her wrist. At first it only happened rarely but lately, the frequency of the pain had increased. But Kirimi didn't pay attention to it much.

The sky also looked cloudy today. Would it rain?

As usual, she went inside with her 'Ojomashimasu!' and was greeted by Shizuo's mother. But today, for the first time since she had met her, Shizuo's mother had a worried expression on her face.

"Obaa-san, what's wrong?" asked Kirimi, a bit alarmed.

Shizuo's mother glanced up the stairs, where Shizuo's room was.

"Actually, Kirimi-chan, ever since this morning, Shizuo hasn't come out of his room. He hasn't eaten anything and no matter how many times we call him and ask him what's wrong, he doesn't answer us," said Shizuo's mother, her eyes filled with sadness.

"What? What happened to him?" asked Kirimi now quite alarmed.

"We don't know. He doesn't tell us," said Shizuo's older sister who had come to say hello to Kirimi.

Kirimi looked up at Shizuo's room which she could see from downstairs.

"I'll talk to him, obaa-san. Don't worry about it. I'll make him come out," said Kirimi, patting his mother's shoulders.

Kirimi pondered on this. This wasn't like Shizuo at all. Even when he was sad, angry or frustrated, he would still have a happy expression, trying to make others happy. What was it that had made him so upset?

Kirimi went up the stairs and stopped in front of Shizuo's room. She knocked once. No answer. She knocked three times, each knock harder than the previous knock.

"Shizuo! Open up, it's me, Kirimi!" called Kirimi.

No answer.

Kirimi tried to open the door; it was locked.

"Shizuo, your mom is really worried about you, open up!" said Kirimi.

Still nothing. Kirimi felt hurt. He had never ignored her like this before.

"Please, Shizuo, don't ignore me like this. I'm also worried about you. What happened? If you can't tell your mom or your sister, at least tell me. If it's something wrong you did, I promise I won't tell them," said Kirimi, now really feeling hurt.

She heard a small scuffle inside. Kirimi put her hands on the door.

"Shizuo," she said in an almost whisper. "These three years I've known you, you've helped me a lot. You helped me become a braver person, a person who communicates more and you play basketball with me. I want to help you like you've helped me Shizuo, please,"

Still no answer. Kirimi squeezed her hands in frustration. Ack, there was that stupid pricking pain again!

"Come ON Shizuo! Open the darned already! I'm seriously worried about yo-"

The door opened and there stood a very forlorn looking Shizuo.

Kirimi gasped.

"Shizuo, you look terrible,"

"Well, thanks," he replied.

"No! Sorry I didn't mean that! I mean…what happened, Shizuo? Why…what's wrong?" asked Kirimi, a bit flustered.

"Shige-nii….lost in the nationals again," said Shizuo, not looking at Kirimi's eyes.

Kirimi's breath caught in her throat.

Last year, when they were in fifth grade, Shizuo's brother Shigehiro had unfortunately lost in the semi finals in the Nationals. Shizuo had been quite disappointed but Kirimi had cheered him up saying that Shige-nii still had one year left and he would make it this year. But he hadn't…

"Shi-Shizuo…" said Kirimi, at a loss for words.

"But that's not why I'm upset," said Shizuo, his eyes having a dead look in them.

Huh?

"W-What?"

"Their score was pathetic. It was 11-111, but that's no why I'm upset either,"

"Then why _are _you upset?" asked Kirimi, curiously.

Shizuo gave a hard sigh and looked at Kirimi's eyes.

"Shige-nii…said he's quitting basketball,"

Kirimi's eyes widened.

"E-Eh?" she said, since that was all she could utter.

What? Shige-nii was quitting basketball? No…no. He wasn't the type of person to give up basketball just because he lost right? From the way Shizuo had talked to her about his brother, Kirimi thought of him as a person who never gave up, a person who would always pull through situations.

"This morning, just before breakfast, he called me and told me, he wouldn't play basketball anymore," said Shizuo.

Kirimi just looked at Shizuo trying to think of comforting him in some way.

Shige-nii was the reason Shizuo had started playing basketball and it was because of him that he wanted to join a basketball ball team in middle school. His brother influenced him greatly. To have the person who inspired you to quit like this…

Kirimi clenched her fists again, not caring about the pricking pain this time. She put her hands on Shizuo's shoulders.

"Shizuo," she said steadily. "Shige-nii won't quit basketball,"

Shizuo looked at her hopelessly.

"He said it himself, Kirimi. He wasn't joking about it either, I could tell. He quitting for sure,"

"No," said Kirimi. "Have some more faith in your brother,"

"What are you talking about, Kirimi?" asked Shizuo.

Kirimi paused.

"Do you really think that your great brother would quit basketball just because he lost a match?"

"No, of course not! But it's not just a match, it was in the finals," said Shizuo heatedly. "Ah…but, yeah, even then, Shige-nii wouldn't quit…"

Kirimi nodded.

"Exactly. He's not the kind of person to do that. Which is why, I think, he just said it in the heat of the moment. Think about it, this was a big match for him, and I'm sure he put his all into it. It's natural to feel really bad and like quitting when he was so close to winning the championship but it was taken away from him like that. It's very cruel. But, in times like this, we say things we don't mean. We say it because our emotions are in disarray. I've done it, you've done, all of us do it," said Kirimi, slowly but clearly.

Shizuo pondered on Kirimi's words.

"Shizuo," said Kirimi gently. "I'm sure your brother tried his best till the very last second. You should be proud of him. I'm sure, after a few weeks, he'll be ok. Don't worry about. So cheer up ok?"

Shizuo had tears in his eyes by this time. He sniffed, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and gave her a teary grin and hugged her.

"Shizuo?" asked Kirimi, shocked.

Shizuo held on to her.

"Kirimi, thanks so much," said Shizuo, still sniffing slightly.

Kirimi was shocked at first but then she patted his head a bit awkwardly.

"What are you talking about? I just comforted you, idiot,"

Shizuo held on to her tighter.

"No, not just now. I want to thank you for all this time…these three years you've been with me. They've been the best. Before you came to school, I had friends but I never had a best friend like you. I-I'm really glad I met you, Kirimi," he said softly.

Kirimi herself felt like crying now. She stopped patting his head and hugged him back.

"Of course I feel the same way, Shizuo! You're the one who made me who I am today, I'm really glad I met you too!" said Kirimi, closing her eyes.

They stayed like that for a minute or so, both in a world of their own.

"Aaaaaahhhh! Look at those two love birds mom," said a voice all of a sudden, who turned out to be Shizuo's sister.

"Young love is so beautiful," said Shizuo's mother, wiping a tear from her eye.

"O-Onee-san! How long have you been here? You too, okaa-san!" said Shizuo, embarrassed.

They both immediately let go of each other.

"You two should just get married already," said his sister teasingly.

"Shut up! Kirimi and I are friends, best friends. And it'll always be that way, right Kirimi?" he asked, grinning at her.

Kirimi herself, who was a bit flustered and embarrassed, immediately cottoned on.

"Right! Best friends and basketball buddies forever!" announced Kirimi. "Come on, Shizuo, let's go play basketball!"

Shizuo and Kirimi ran to the backyard.

Once or twice, they had been teased as a couple but Kirimi and Shizuo both didn't feel that way toward each other. They were just best friends and basketball idiots. It may seem weird for a boy and a girl to be just best friends to some people, but Kirimi and Shizuo were just that.

They went to the backyard and started playing as usual when something happened which would change their lives forever. This was where things went wrong.

"Ok, Kirimi, you're a great passer but today we're going to work on your shooting! You should know how to shoot properly!" said Shizuo, back to his old self.

Kirimi smiled at him, getting into position.

The sky was turning black now. It was going to start raining soon.

Shizuo dribbled the ball and passed it to Kirimi for her to shoot. Kirimi braced herself for the ball. But at that moment, the stupid pricking pain came back again and Kirimi's hand movement was slowed down and the ball, coming in force, hit her smack on her already painful wrist and bounced off.

Kirimi felt as if all the air in her body was taken out of her. She let out a very painful 'ouch' and then she just closed her eyes. The pain was unbearable, she couldn't even make sounds of pain, she just clutched her wrist and as the pain got worse, she just slinked into the ground into a fetal position as she clutched her wrist.

Shizuo also felt as his there was no air in his body when he saw her like that.

"Kirimi!" he shouted in great worry. "What's wrong? KIRIMI!"

Kirimi just writhed in pain, unable to answer him, though she wanted to.

He bent down besides her trying to think of what to do., his heart pounding in terror. He looked at her wrist and looked increasingly alarmed when he saw that it was red and the redness was spreading to her hands. He immediately slung Kirimi's good hand around his shoulder and rushed back to the house and told his mother and sister. His mother immediately phoned Kirimi's parents who were there in five minutes despite being far away.

It was now raining heavily.

* * *

They immediately took Kirimi to hospital. By this time, the redness was spreading into Kirimi's finger tips. Kirimi was immediately admitted to hospital where she was given a pain killer sleep injection so that she would fall asleep and wouldn't feel pain while the doctors examined her wrist. She slept for the rest of the evening until late next morning.

The rain had now turned into a storm.

Even though she was given a sleep injection, she had disturbed sleep. Shizuo kept coming in and out of her dreams. She also dreamt of her parents shouting at Shizuo, of him saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore. She cried in her sleep and kept asking the retreating figure of Shizuo to come back to her. Wasn't he supposed to teach her how to shoot?

She opened her eyes around 10.30 am the next morning.

"Shi-Shizuo?" she said weakly, looking for him. But her blurry eyes met the blurred reflections of her parents.

"She's awake! Kirimi!" said her father immediately.

"O-Otou-san," said Kirimi dazed. "W-What happened?"

Her father's expression turned grim. Mayu closed the book she had been reading.

"That's what we want to know, Kirimi," said her mother. Kirimi looked at her. She had a stony expression on her face.

What? What had happened?

Kirimi tried to move around and sit up but she couldn't. She looked at her wrist and noticed that she didn't feel any pain anymore. It was wrapped up tightly in bandages. Kirimi gulped. Even in her weak state, she felt a sense of foreboding.

"Kirimi," said her mother.

Kirimi turned around and looked at her fearfully. She had a bad feeling that her parents knew about things she didn't want them to know….

"What is this, Kirimi?" asked her father. "Why have you done this?"

Kirimi could only gulp again.

"Say something Kirimi, anything. Say something and tell us that you had a good excuse for disobeying us like this," said Mayu(her mother) piercing Kirimi with her cold eyes.

Kirimi fiddled with the blankets.

"O-okaa-san-" started Kirimi.

"How could you humiliate us like this Kirimi? I expected better of you," said her father shaking his head.

"Your father and I, getting ready to go for an extremely important meeting, when suddenly we get this phone call from someone saying that our daughter has suffered an injury in her wrist and that we should come quickly,"

Kirimi could say nothing.

"So of course we were worried, and abandoned our meeting for you, hurrying to come and see you and what do we see? We learn that for the past three years, you've just being going to that boy's house just to play basketball," continued Mayu, her voice rising.

Kirimi protested weakly.

"No, okaa-san, I swear we studied as well and it was PE and-"

But Mayu cut Kirimi off again.

"-when we had told you in the beginning itself that basketball was out of bounds. I only let you go to that boy's house for your studies, Kirimi and we find out you were wasting your precious time with some stupid sport we had forbidden you to you!" said Mayu, loudly.

"Please, okaa-san-" pleaded Kirimi.

Kirimi knew exactly what she was going to say. But she didn't want to hear it. Things were going all wrong.

"And that friend of yours, that boy, wouldn't tell us the truth that you had been doing this but we understood enough by ourselves," said her father, showing a disgusted face at Kirimi.

"Shizuo was-"

"Quiet, Kirimi. Quiet. Enough of disobeying us. This is all the fault of your father and I. You started becoming rebellious and lying to us ever since you started going to school. We should have gotten a tutor from abroad for you. That was the first mistake," said her mother, shaking her head.

"No, okaa-san, I love school so much, please-" said Kirimi, her heart feeling as if it was going to burst.

"That's enough of you, Kirimi!" said her father sharply.

Her mother quickly answered a call from her cellphone. After that, she turned to look at her daughter again.

"You will withdraw from that school immediately. We have already told the school principal that you are leaving. Leaving certificates should be ready in two days. You will be homeschooled for your middle school education following the curriculum from Sakura Middle School but your tutor from before will be coming back to teach you," said Mayu sternly.

"NO! No, okaa-san, please, please, I need to go to Sakura Middle. I told Shizuo I would go with him and-"

No, this can't be happening…how could things have become like this in just one day?

"Silence! That boy is the one who spoiled you. And I let you go to his house…that was another grave mistake," said Mayu her ears red with anger.

"BUT-"

"That is all I wanted to tell you Kirimi. Now hurry up and get better. Ah yes, the last thing I wanted to tell you is, you are never joining a basketball team in your life, so get that delusion out of your head quickly,"

"A-Ah…..y-yes, I understand," said Kirimi struggling very hard not to burst into tears.

Once they left, Kirimi collapsed into her pillow and howled. She cried and cried until she could not cry. She coughed, still sniffing, trying to digest everything that had happened.

Why? Why had this happened? Her life was going so well, she had a school, she had Shizuo, and she had basketball. Why did her life have to be snatched away from her like this? All those years without friends, all those years without talking to anybody, without a best friend, without basketball, would she have to go through all of that again?

She looked at her right wrist and had an urge to bang it on the wall but she knew that would be stupid to do. It was all because of that stupid right wrist of hers. If it hadn't pricked, if it hadn't become weak, she wouldn't be in this situation.

According to reports from her doctors, her right wrist had always been weak since she was a baby and when she had started playing basketball regularly, it had been put under more strain. And when the ball hit her wrist that day, it had made her two ligaments break and since her hand had already been weak, it would take a long time to fully recover. The doctors, not knowing about Kirimi's parents tried to cheer Kirimi up by saying that she could still play basketball for fifteen minutes a day or so after a month. But what use was that?

Even if she wanted to, even if she could, though her parents definitely wouldn't let her, she couldn't play basketball regularly and properly, especially in matches in the like for another year at the very least.

Kirimi felt so angry and frustrated and disappointed. So she was stuck to being her parent's puppet for the rest of her life.

But she heard a tiny voice at the back of her brain. Was all this really her fault? The fault of her hand? If she hadn't gotten an interest in basketball at age six, would she be in this situation today? Kirimi closed her eyes.

How would her life have been if she hadn't discovered basketball? She would have still gone to a normal elementary school; she would have still met Shizuo, and still been friends with him. She would not have injured her already weakened hand, her parents would have probably let her go to Sakura Middle School with Shizuo….wait, what was she thinking?

* * *

Three weeks passed. Kirimi had been discharged from hospital two weeks earlier. Her wrist was no longer in bandages. But ever since the day at the hospital, she had felt diminished.

She had become quiet and subdued and now, since she was at home again, all the time, she didn't have anyone to talk to. Even though it was technically summer vacation now, she was still made to study by her parents every day. Her old tutor had come back and would coach her and Kirimi studied. She lost her spirit and slowly started becoming her parents' puppet. She attended their meetings, acted like a good little daughter and kept up the honor of her family. Her eyes had lost the sparkle in them, the sparkle she had when she had basketball.

She looked at her light blue ball. She still had it after all these years. It had been through everything with her. But, was it, perhaps the cause of her interest in basketball? No, no matter what, she could never abandon her light blue ball.

In the last three weeks, Kirimi's doubts about basketball had kept on surfacing and now she felt resentment towards it. She was so angry with basketball and what it had put her through that she resolved not to play it ever again, even if her hand healed. If she hadn't gotten interested in it, she wouldn't have had to go through all this hurt and suffering. She would have gone to a normal school and would still have been Shizuo's friend and would have probably gone to middle school with him too.

She clenched her fists.

This wasn't Shizuo's fault or her hand's fault. This was all because she started playing basketball. This was basketball's fault.

Kirimi felt her heart thumping.

"It's all because of a ball like you," she whispered to her light blue ball. "A ball which is like you but is orange and rough is what brought all this pain on me,"

She would have led a normal ordinary life if not for basketball. It was not like she was saying she enjoyed being her parent's puppet by being their plaything to show off and having her future decided for her without her go ahead but she would have rather had that rather than had gone through the feeling of having half your life(basketball) plucked away from you. But because she let basketball carry her away, she had not only betrayed her parents trust but also Shizuo's. Because of that, even after all the things her parents had said, there was one thing she wanted to do, no matter what.

And that was apologizing to Shizuo. Apologize for disappearing from school all of a sudden, for not being able to attend their graduation ceremony. To apologize and tell him that she wouldn't be able to attend Middle School with him. Her heart ached so much. She wanted to see him at least one last time. Which was why, one day, when her tutor had left early because he said he had something to attend to, and both her parents had an emergency meeting and left right after he did, Kirimi did something daring once again.

So on that day, she left the house and went by bus to Shizuo's house. She was afraid if he would be angry at her and wouldn't talk to her. But she had to talk to him. Which is why when Kirimi reached Shizuo's house, she found it looking deserted. The yard hadn't looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a while. Disregarding it, she went to the door which was locked and knocked on it. She waited for two minutes. There was no answer.

Kirimi's heart was thumping. She went to the side and looked through the windows. There was no one inside. There were no tables or chairs inside, the TV was missing. No…it couldn't be…

Kirimi ran to the neighbor's house and immediately inquired on what had happened to the Ogiwara family who had lived next door. The answer she got made her feel like she had gotten her ligament broken again. A ligament in her heart...did hearts even have ligaments? The neighbor said that two weeks back, they had suddenly moved house without saying anything to anyone. No one knew where they had gone. Kirimi asked the whole neighborhood about Shizuo's family and she got the same answer every time.

So, with a heavy heart, Kirimi left the neighborhood.

What had happened? Shizuo would never leave without telling her. She was sure he would have told her. Or was it that he was so angry with her that he had left without telling her? But why would he suddenly move house without telling the neighbors…it was so puzzling and it hurt her very much. Did this mean no more playing in the back yard? No more studying with him…no more laughing, no more having petty fights…

No Shizuo, no basketball, no friends, no school…it was almost like the heavens were telling her that this was her fate. That trying to escape from her fate was foolish of her and that what had happened to her wrist was a punishment for that. So this was it, then. Shizuo was gone and she would never, ever play basketball again in her life.

She found herself trailing down the road, past her old school and when she had come to, she found herself in the busy, crowded Usagi Road…the place where she had touched a basketball for the first time all those years ago.

"Shizuo," said Kirimi out loud, touching her heart.

She found an old woman staring at her as if she was mad. While Kirimi was looking at the old woman, someone bumped into her. Kirimi was nearly thrown off-balance.

She looked around her. Now that she came to think of it, it was exceptionally crowded today in Usagi Road, even though Usagi Road was usually a crowded place. Most of the people seemed to be going up north. Kirimi wondered what the hubbub was about.

From what she could gather from people talking to each other, most of them were going to see a basketball match involving Teiko Middle School. Kirimi tried to think if she had heard it

before…Teiko…Teiko middle school…hadn't Shizuo mentioned that school once or twice before? From what she could remember, the school was known for its extremely strong basketball team.

_Shizuo…_

Kirimi shook her head, trying to stop thinking of sad thoughts. She had to stop thinking about basketball. She would only hurt herself more if she thought about it more. She had to concentrate on her studies now. She needed to forget the past and move on, if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to live up to her parents expectations. She had to stop thinking about basketball…basketball…

To her dismay she found a tiny part of herself wanting to see the basketball match, which was really stupid. What was the use of going to the match, watching it happily, and then coming back to reality and realize that she would never be able to play it and then get all depressed again? Hadn't she resolved to never play it again?

And yet, her heart had a mind of its own. She found her legs carrying her to the basketball stadium where all the people were going. She got a ticket to view the match and found herself inside before the match started.

"What the heck am I doing here?" thought Kirimi, disappointed in herself for letting her emotions control her like this.

She wondered what Shizuo would say if he saw her like this. She could still get out of here if she wanted to but her feet refused to move from her seat. She sighed and gave up. Well, she might as well watch this match since it was probably the only one she was ever going to watch in her life. She should consider it a farewell to basketball.

She looked up at the score board.

But Kirimi didn't know that this very game would change her life.

* * *

And it's done! Whew! That was a long chapter! Took me nearly a month to to both this and chapter 2. I re wrote this and chapter 2 of the story(which will be coming shortly) a LOT. I wanted it to be well done because I wanted to give you readers the best return gift I could possibly give in a way to apologize for my huuuge absence.

What did you think? Was it an improvement? Yeah, a lot of you are scratching your heads saying, 'Where's Kuroko?', 'Where's Kagami?'. I promise you, they will be appearing soon. I just wanted to give Kirimi a proper backstory, that's all.

Chapter 2 will hopefully be coming out soon.


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